38 



VIEWS OF THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD. 



animalcule can again withdraw into its body, and protrude others from a dif- 

 ferent place, if it pleases so to do. This animalcule, though classed with the 

 Polygastrica, can hardly be said to possess stomachs, for it is simply a mass of mat- 

 ter composed of cells. Within this, numerous contractile vesicles are seen which 

 were, at first, supposed to be stomachs. 



In the figures, their situations are indicated by the larger cavities (b b 6, &c.), 

 and are represented as they exist, dispersed throughout the body of the creature. 



Fig. 48. 



Fig. 4ft 



THE BELL-SHAPED ANI- 

 MALCULES. This family of 

 Infusoria, which is re- 

 markable for the grace- 

 ful elegance of its forms, 

 is devoid of a shell ; and 

 each individual, when 

 unconnected with oth- 

 ers, roams about in 

 solitary independence. 

 When, however, they 

 are attached to a stem, 

 they live together in 

 great numbers, assum- 

 ing the shape of trees or 

 shrubs, with an animal- 

 cule appended like a 

 flower to the extremity 

 of every tiny spray. 

 Imperfect self-division 

 gives rise to these beauti- 

 ful tree-like clusters ; but 

 in addition to this mode 

 of increase, they like- 

 wise multiply by the 

 growth of buds, either 

 from the sides of the 

 animalcules, or from the 

 sta ] ks to which they are 

 united. The Bell-shaped 

 animalcules are usually 

 found clustered together, in countless numbers, upon the submerged surfaces 

 of twigs and roots. They adhere also to the small leaves of the duck-weed, and 

 attach themselves to the shells of minute aquatic animals; but when fully de- 

 veloped, they are generally connected with some fixed object. A group of 

 several animalcules belonging to this family, and of the species termed the 

 Nebulous bell-shaped animalcule, is exhibited in figure 49. The body of the 

 creature, as its name implies, has the shape of a bell, the margin of which is 

 fringed with a circle of cilia. The space surrounded by the cilia is the mouth of the 

 animalcule, and the position of its stomachs is marked by the round spaces within 

 the bell. The slender stem by which each individual of a group is attached to a 

 common base is furnished with a long and delicate muscle, traversing its entire 



